Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Let sleeping babies lie?

16 replies

peedieworky · 28/06/2011 07:37

Hi all - this is a bit of an update on my query yesterday (DS going longer between feeds during the day than at night). In the end I followed everyone's advice (thank you all kindly!) and made sure he was cooler at night, fed at first feeding cues and ensured he never went 3 hours without a feed. As it turns out he fed almost constantly so not sure if what I had been experiencing was a growth spurt? Anyway... The result - a blissful 5.5 hours overnight!

But..this leads me on to a question! Wasn't an issue yesterday but some folk advised to try not to go over 3 hours with out a feed. Does this mean I should wake DS to feed? I've had such conflicting advice over this am intrigued to hear what folk think. Thanks in advance for your input!

OP posts:
sillysow · 28/06/2011 07:40

How old is he? I will be interested to see other peoples thoughts too :)

Original poster
peedieworky · 28/06/2011 07:42

5 weeks - and healthy weight etc Grin

OP posts:
RitaMorgan · 28/06/2011 07:45

It's a personal choice I think. I never let ds go more than 3 hours in the day (generally it was more like 2.5 hours) in the hope that he'd do his big sleep at night. He was sleeping 8 hours by 8 weeks, but who knows if that is coincidence!

The way I see it, babies need 8+ (or whatever works for a particular baby - some need more, some less) feeds a day - I'd rather try to get in 6 in the day and 2 at night rather than 4 in each, or 3 in the day 5 at night etc.

Original poster
peedieworky · 28/06/2011 07:48

That's interesting to hear RitaMorgan as I had been going that way but was told off by a MW who said you should never wake a sleeping baby! Your way seems more sensible - I assume you would wake them if needsby then?

OP posts:
Meglet · 28/06/2011 07:52

I always woke them to feed in the day. Usually every 90 mins or so. I figured I'd rather do it when I was awake and keep my supply up than do it at night. Basically I would feed, go to the loo, have a snack and a wander, wake them up, change nappy then feed again.

I am a hopeless control freaker, worrier and feeder though Grin. In my defence it seemed to work ok, dd gained loads, always had lots of milk and night-times weren't too hellish, lots of cluster feeding in the evening when she got crochety but not as bad as other people seem to get.

RitaMorgan · 28/06/2011 07:56

Sleeping 12 hours at night isn't a natural pattern for babies/children and if we want to steer them towards that you have to control when they wake and sleep to some extent. When your baby is older too you'll probably find you need to wake them but 3 or 4 in the afternoon so they'll go to bed on time, limit their day time sleep etc.

juneau · 28/06/2011 08:03

I wouldn't wake a sleeping baby at night unless I'd been advised to do so. I figure if a baby is hungry, it will wake up. During the day I'm sure to feed every 2-3 hours though.

My DS is seven weeks old today and he gave me six hours sleep last night, which was brilliant. I'm not expecting him to do it again anytime soon, but I remember with my DS1 there were nights when he slept a long time and others when he didn't - even when he was only a few weeks old.

Original poster
peedieworky · 28/06/2011 08:19

Yes, i wasn't suggesting waking at night! That would be ugly!

OP posts:
nectarina · 28/06/2011 09:14

I've been told NEVER to wake a sleeping baby by a MW as if it was dangerous. I can't understand why not, does anyone know the theory?

Original poster
peedieworky · 28/06/2011 09:22

Dangerous?? She sounds hardcore!!

OP posts:
tiktok · 28/06/2011 09:32

It's not dangerous or wrong or risky to wake a sleeping baby - there can't be rules about this that apply to everyone as different circumstances require different responses.

Babies who are sleeping a long time to conserve energy as they are not feeding often enough or effectively enough to take in sufficient calories need to be kept skin to skin and fed at the first sign of non-deep sleep, and encouraged to wake, with care taken to see milk is being transferred 'properly'. Babies who are thriving and who are beyond the newborn period don't need that level of 'intervention'.

clairefromsteps · 28/06/2011 09:43

Personal choice, but I always woke mine to feed them during the day and never let them go more than 3 hours between feeds so that they would have their feeding needs met during the day and sleep for longer at night. This was on the basis that humans are designed to sleep at night and get our nutritional intake during the day. And the fact that I was knackered and desperate for a longer sleep at night myself!

As I say, this is a personal choice and just what felt right for my kids (and they thrived on it). I'm interested in the MW who said it's dangerous to wake a sleeping baby - what's the reasoning behind that?

bettieblue · 28/06/2011 09:57

Hello

My DS is 5 weeks old and between 7am and 7pm (approx) I make sure I feed every 3 hours approx so he gets 5-6 feeds in that time. After bedtime feed (7-8pm) then I don't wake him but wait until he does and then feed him. Intially he'd wake 3 times but this reduced to 2 times and last night he feed at 7pm, 1.40am and needed feeding at 7am. Im not sure if this is a one off but im crossing my fingers thats its not!

I don't wake him and so don't do a dream feed and am wondering if using the feeding routine I am DS will not naturally stop needing the 1/2am feed as that would mean going from 7am -7pm without a feed! So I would say, no don't wake him but would be interested if other posters think you need to do a dream feed in order to lessen the need for 2am feeds?

aideesmum · 28/06/2011 10:00

such conflivting advice! I was advised by hospital midwifes to not let dd go more than 6 hours between feeds at any time so was waking dd up in the night to feed although I'm sure she would have slept a lot longer. Now dd is 9 wks but from 6 weeks I let her sleep when she wanted and stopped waking for feeds at night, funnily enough she then woke herself after 4 hours max!

RitaMorgan · 28/06/2011 10:02

Mine was sleeping 7pm-3am, then feeding at 5am and 7am. I introduced a dreamfeed to try to get him to go 11pm-7am but all that happened was he now fed at 7pm, 11pm, 3am, 5am, 7am - so all I succeeded in doing was adding an extra feed. When I tried to drop the dreamfeed he woke for it anyway.

With the next baby I will just leave him be at night!

Yesmynameis · 28/06/2011 10:31

I used to try and feed my baby at least 3 hourly in the day in the hope that she would have her one longer sleep at night.

I never woke her for feeds in the night but waited for her to wake naturally. That said, she was term, a healthy weight and a good feeder, which I think it's important to point out.

During the day I tried not to wake her if she was sleeping, but I NEVER let her go more than 4 hours even if it meant gently rousing her.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread